How long does it take the FBI to process a typical FOIA request?
Well, I pulled this info off the FBI’s FOIA web site (actually, off the DOJ page that the FBI linked to): ” Under the statute, all federal agencies are required to respond to a FOIA request within twenty business days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. This time period does not begin until the request is actually received by the FOIA office of the Department of Justice component that maintains the records sought. An agency is not required to send out the releasable documents by the last business day; it can send you a letter informing you of its decision and then send you the documents within a reasonable time afterward. Some components of the Justice Department, such as the FBI and DEA, receive thousands of requests each year. Many of these requests require a line-by-line review of hundreds or even thousands of pages of documents. Although the Justice Depart
I got a voicemail back on Monday afternoon. She stated that my request is in the redaction/sanitization stage, and that she doesn’t have any details about when it might be done there, but that she thought it might be a few more weeks. It’s not what I was hoping to hear, but at least it’s something.
I can’t speak specifically to the FBI FOIA requests, but it can definitely take a very long time for the ones I’ve had experience with, for the DoD and for State. At DoD, I’ve had one that took three months, one that took two, and one that is still pending after more than a year. At State, it doesn’t take as long, normally. I’ve had some things in a matter of weeks, all the way up to about six months. My anecdotal theory is that the time it takes depends on a lot of things, ranging from who is processing your specific request, the current workload, and the sensitivity of the materials. I would suggest that you contact the FBI public information officer and ask them the question. As long as you are respectful, I find that most government people will be happy to help you get a sense for how long something will take. If they know, that is. You might even be able to get a specific timeline for your specific case.
Working with a newspaper who did a couple of these, they usually turned them around right on the 20th day. That they’ve taken much, much longer with yours probably just means a backlog, not malice, and that’s probably the best assumption to start with when corresponding with the FBI over the matter. But now’s the time to make sure that you document everything about your request and your interactions with them, so that you can raise hell more easily later. Strangely enough, the Department of Education and HUD were the two worst agencies that I’ve dealt with regarding FOIA requests—the FBI and DoD were pretty decent, if officious.
